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Gator performs where cars could not

A John Deere Gator was helpful during flooding last month in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Police in Eastern Pennsylvania used a John Deere Gator to reach homes in a flooded district after a local river's waters surpassed high levels and endangered the homes' residents.

"We were able to get to every house and make sure everybody was OK," Daniel Pancoast, Bethlehem Township police chief, told The Express-Times."So any resident who wanted to leave was able to."

The Gator reached residents after the Lehigh River caused a road closure that made it nearly impossible to do so by car on March 11. The machine traversed an abandoned railroad bed.

But local law enforcement also was prepared. The department was keeping an eye out and monitoring the region beginning the previous day in anticipation of flooding. When the region began flooding the next morning, the department was prepared since anyone who wanted to leave was able to do so. The police department did encourage residents to evacuate their homes; the number of people in the region totals about 100.